Chenango Forks Track and Field
Hall of Fame

Graduated:
School Record in Mile Run
School Record in 2 Mile Run
School Record Distance Medley

SUS Champion: 2 Mile Run (1972, 1973)
SUS Team Champion: 1972
State Meet: 2 Mile Run (1973)

Robert “Chip” Boehm will forever be remembered as the greatest runner in
the history of Chenango Forks.  Not only is he one of only two trackmen to
ever simultaneously hold three School Records, if it was not for the United
States deciding to boycott the Summer Olympics in 1980, Boehm probably
would have been our first ever Olympian!

In his high school days, Chip was a Class Champion Swimmer (and School
Record holder in the 400 Yard Freestyle), while also being a dominant Cross
Country Runner, finishing 44th in the State as a sophomore, 28th as a junior,
and finally third overall in the State as a senior.  In Track, he was two time All
Conference in the 2 Mile Run and as a Senior, was poised to become Forks's
first ever State Champion.  Unfortunately, he nursed a thigh injury the entire
year and overworked the leg to the point that the muscle was not getting any
oxygen and atrophy began to set in as the season was winding down. 
Somehow, Chip was still able to set our School Record in the Mile clocking in
at 4:28.6 (a record that stood for 38 years), while also setting our School
Record in the 2 Mile School at an amazing 9:34.4, and running the Mile Leg
of our School Record Distance Medley Team (two records that still stands to
this day).  While he qualified for the State Meet as a Senior, his injury
prevented him from competing. 

Boehm earned a scholarship to the University of Tennessee where he ran
Cross Country, Indoor Track, and Outdoor Track.  During his freshman year,
Chip ran an 8:58.9 Two Mile for the Track team and was instrumental in
helping the Voles win the SEC Championship in Cross Country.  In fact,
Tennessee won the SEC title every year Chip ran and was ranked as high as
6th in the Nation during his tenure.  

After college, Chip ran and won every local road race… from his multiple wins at the Forks XV, the Vestal XX, the Sun Run 20K, the General Clinton 10K, and the Chensus Run to his winning the Marine Run 5K in 1979 (15:12) and then 45 minutes later winning the Marine Run 10K (31:09) in 94 degree heat…Chip became a literal running legend.  It was not just locally as Chip won road races all over the country.  There were seemingly monthly writeups in the Press & Sun Bulletin reporting on everything from Chip's training (120 miles a week including intervals on the track) to his daily breakfast (1 quart of orange juice, 1 egg, 1 plain yogurt, ½ a grapefruit, 1 banana, and a homemade energy drink of honey, pineapple juice, and protein powder) always mentioning his goal to make the 1980 Olympic Team as a Marathon Runner.

Chip qualified for the Olympic Trials, running an early season Marathon in 2 hours 19 minutes and 52 seconds (which is a pace of 5:20 a mile).  This was only the second Marathon Chip had ever competed in as an adult.  Despite this--and actually many speculated because of this--inexperience, Chip was in a perfect position to make the team being only slightly behind the United State's 5th best runner's time that year (and five made the Olympic Team).  But the US decided to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow and Boehm never got to fulfill his dream. 

An injury in 1983 kept Boehm from properly training to make the 1984 Olympic Squad and so Chip took nearly a decade off from competitive running.  He begin training again in 1990 (110 miles a week) and competing again in road races all the way through to 2004, when he was still running a 5:48 mile pace in the Liberty Waterfront Half Marathon and clocking in at 16:20 while winning the Merry Heart 5K as an almost 50 year old!